RED SOX NOTEBOOK: Tyler Thornburg out for year; Brian Johnson on DL

Thursday

Jun 15, 2017 at 6:44 PMJun 15, 2017 at 6:51 PM

Tim Britton and Brian MacPherson, Providence Journal

For the second consecutive year, the pitcher the Red Sox acquired to be their set-up man will miss nearly all of the season.Boston announced Thursday that right-hander Tyler Thornburg will undergo surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome on Friday in St. Louis. He will miss the rest of the season.

Thornburg has not thrown a pitch for the Red Sox this regular season.

Acquired in a deal from the Brewers in December, Thornburg was supposed to shore up the back end of Boston’s bullpen, serving as the primary set-up man for closer Craig Kimbrel. Instead, he’s been beset by shoulder problems since early in spring training – problems that led to criticism of the club’s shoulder program, a stint on the disabled list, and finally this surgery.

Thornburg’s shoulder issues began the first week of March. After a pair of poor outings in spring games – hardly unusual in Thornburg’s career track record – the Red Sox backed off his workload to work him through what they and Thornburg thought was a dead-arm period.

At the time, Thornburg and manager John Farrell linked the dead-arm phase with his initiation into Boston’s shoulder program. The reliever had misunderstood how much of the program to do in the offseason, leaving him a little behind his teammates. Farrell called it a time of “adaptation.”

Thornburg appeared to be working his way back toward health later that month, only to be scratched with a shoulder spasm before a Grapefruit League appearance. After that, he was placed on the disabled list in late March, diagnosed with a shoulder impingement.

His recovery from that injury, however, never progressed beyond long toss. Thornburg hasn’t pitched off a mound since March, and Farrell said Tuesday that the reliever’s symptoms still hadn’t subsided, preventing him even from long toss in the past week.

Thursday’s call for surgery was not a surprise.

The diagnosis of thoracic outlet syndrome, however, is one that’s concerning beyond the 2017 season for Thornburg. The track record of pitchers returning from the surgery is spotty. The Mets’ Matt Harvey has continued to struggle this season after undergoing the surgery last year. Former Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter never returned fully healthy after the surgery in 2012. Daniel Bard has never returned to form, though his control problems began well before he underwent the surgery before the 2014 season.

Without Thornburg, the Red Sox will continue to lean heavily on their trio of right-handed set-up men: Matt Barnes, Joe Kelly and Heath Hembree. The three have all pitched very well this season, though there are reasons for concern regarding the sustainability of such production ahead of Kimbrel.

One reason for optimism is the impending return of Carson Smith, the reliever the Red Sox acquired in December 2015 to be its 2016 set-up man, before he had to go under the knife for Tommy John surgery.

Clearly, Boston’s history in acquiring relievers has been poor this decade. Since 2011, eight of the 16 relievers the Red Sox have traded for or signed to a major-league contract have ended up on the disabled list by the first week of May.

The quintet of Thornburg, Smith, Bobby Jenks, Joel Hanrahan and Andrew Bailey has combined to throw a total of 692/3 innings for Boston in eight and a half years of team control. None have been worth more than zero wins above replacement. In trades for Bailey, Hanrahan, Smith and Thornburg, the Red Sox have given up Josh Reddick, Mark Melancon, Wade Miley and Travis Shaw. Those four have been worth more than 27 wins above replacement, according to Fangraphs, since being dealt.

Johnson sidelined: One day after he left his start early with shoulder discomfort, the Red Sox have placed Brian Johnson on the 10-day disabled list with a left shoulder impingement.

Boston promoted Austin Maddox from Triple-A Pawtucket to replace Johnson on the roster, and it’s reasonable to expect that Mexican League import Hector Velazquez will replace Johnson in the Boston rotation on Monday in Kansas City.

Johnson left his start Wednesday in Philadelphia after just 22/3 innings pitched. It was another stroke of bad luck for a pitcher who dealt with elbow trouble during his first call-up two years ago and then seemed to dodge a bullet two weeks when a hamstring cramp turned out to be nothing serious.

Velazquez took over for the Red Sox after Johnson left the game and pitched 31/3 scoreless innings – a far cry from the shellacking he absorbed in Oakland in May. Boston’s options beyond Velazquez are limited at best. Neither Kyle Kendrick (6.34 ERA with the PawSox) nor Henry Owens (48 walks in 58 innings with the PawSox) has pitched effectively this season.

To make room for Maddox on the 40-man roster, the Red Sox shifted lefty Roenis Elias to the 60-day disabled list.

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